Artemis/Diana
Pantheon: Greek/Roman Title: Goddess of the Hunt Alignment: Chaotic - Neutral Colours: Silver and White Metal: Silver Crystals and stones: Moonstone labradorite and selenite. Herb: mugwort also known as Artemisia. Authority: Love and Passion, Moon Information The maiden Goddess of the crescent moon and the hunt, Artemis leads the hunt with her wild women. Artemis can teach you to be brave and courageous no matter what gets thrown your way. She is known for acting quickly and decisively to protect and rescue those who call on her for aid. She is swift to punish offenders, even though she detests violence itself. She is a protector of women in childbirth and of mothers and their children. Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, the young Greek Sun God, and is the goddess of chastity, virginity, the hunt, the Moon and nature. Although a virgin goddess, she also presides over childbirth. Because of her connection with the hunt, she is altogether a more active goddess than Aphrodite if you are seeking love or, perhaps, trying to encourage a reluctant lover of either sex or win love under difficult circumstances. She is perfect for outdoor love spells and for casting your love net wide to attract an as yet unknown lover. Diana is the Roman counterpart of Artemis, and because of her strong association with the Moon in all its phases, is a goddess of fertility as well as love. Like Artemis, she is goddess of the hunt and a virgin goddess, but can be invoked in her role as an Earth goddess and as protector of women in childbirth. Her beauty and hunting skills make her a perfect focus for the pursuit of love, especially from afar. Classical goddess of the Moon and the hunt and one of the most important aspects of the Goddess in Wicca. Diana (counterpart to he Greek Artemis) personifies the positive attributes of the moon, which is the source of Witches’ magical power, as well as independence, self-esteem and fierce aggressiveness. A virgin goddess and maiden warrior, she is the eternal feminist, owned by no man, beholden to none. As a moon goddess, Diana shares the lunar trinity with Selene and Hecate and serves as patron goddess of witches. In the trinity, she represents power over the earth. Diana’s origins as Artemis comprise a rich mythology. Her cult flourished throughout the Mediterranean region during the Bronze Age. The Amazons build a beehive-shaped temple to her at Ephesus circa 900 b.c.e., and it is considered the Seventh Wonder of the ancient world. The temple contained a statue of Black Diana, on which was implanted a magical stone. Emperor Theodosius closed the temple in 380, allegedly because he despised the religion of women. Early Christians sought to destroy the cult as Devil-worshipers, and Black Diana was smashed ca. 400. According to myth, Artemis was born of Zeus and Leto, a nature deity and the twin sister of Apollo, who became the god of oracles and of the Sun. As soon as she was born, Artemis was thrust into the role of protector and helper of women. Though Artemis was born without pain, Apollo caused Leto great suffering. Artemis served as midwife. As a result, women have traditionally prayed to her to ease childbirth. As a youth, Artemis exhibited a boyish taste for adventure and independence. At her request, Zeus granted her a bow and a quiver of arrows, a band of nymph maidens to follow her, a pack of hounds, a short tunic suitable for running and eternal chastity, so that she could run forever through the wilderness. She was quick to protect wildlife and animals, as well as humans who appealed to her for help, especially women who were raped and victimized by men. She was equally quick to punish offending men. Actaeon, a hunter who spied Artemis and her nymphs bathing nude in a pool, was turned into a stag and torn to pieces by his own hounds. She killed Orion, whom she loved, with an arrow shot to the head. In one version, she was tricked into killing Orion by Apollo, who did not like Orion; in another version, she killed him out of jealousy over his feelings for Dawn. She sent a boar to ravage the countryside of Calydon as punishment to King Oeneus, because he forgot to include her in the sacrifice of the first fruits of harvest. (None of the bravest male warriors of Greece could slay the boar. It took another woman, Atalanta, to do it.) In British myth, Diana directed Prince Brutus of Troy to flee to Britain after the fall of that city. Brutus, who then founded Britain’s royalty, is said to have erected an altar to Diana at the site where St. Paul’s Cathedral is located today. A surviving remnant of that altar is the London Stone. Apollo and Diana (Albrecht Dürer, 1502) As late as the fifth and sixth centuries, a Dianic cult flourished among European pagans. With the slow Christianization of Europe, Diana became associated with evil and Satan. In the early Middle Ages, she was believed to be the patroness of sorcery (an evil) and to lead witches’ processions and rites. Historian Jeffrey B. Russell notes that Dianic witches’ processions were not known in classical times but probably grew out of the Teutonic myth of the Wild Hunt, a nocturnal spree of ghosts who destroyed the countryside. Clerical scholars may have substituted Diana, a familiar deity, for the Teutonic goddesses, Holda and Berta, who sometimes led the Wild Hunt and who were identified by the church as followers of the Devil. The Canon Episcopi, an ecclesiastical law written ca. 900, reinforced the portrayal of a Devil Diana who leads the witches: It is not to be omitted that some wicked women, perverted by the Devil, seduced by illusions and phantasms of demons, believe and profess themselves, in the hours of the night, to ride upon certain beasts with Diana, the goddess of pagans, and an innumerable multitude of women, and in the silence of the dead of the night to traverse great spaces of earth, and to obey her commands as of their mistress, and to be summoned to her service on certain nights. Diana also became associated with Herodias, wife of Herod, who was responsible for the execution of John the Baptist. Herodias took on the aspects of a demon, condemned to wander through the sky forever but allowed by God to rest in trees from midnight to dawn. In Italian lore, the name Herodias became Aradia. In the 19th century, Charles Godfrey Leland recorded oral legends told to him by witches of Etruscan heritage concerning Aradia, the daughter of Diana and her brother Lucifer. Diana dispatched Aradia to earth to teach witches their craft. British anthropologist Margaret A. Murray erroneously believed that an organized Dianic cult of witches had existed throughout the Middle Ages and the witch hunt centuries, though no evidence survives to prove it. Murray relied heavily upon the Canon Episcopi in developing these ideas. They were adopted by Gerald B. Gardner, a key figure in the revival of witchcraft in the 1950s in Britain. Diana in Wicca Though most Wiccans no longer believe in Murray’s medieval Dianic cult, they do revere Diana as a Pagan deity and an archetype. As part of the Triple Goddess aspect of the moon, Diana holds sway over the new and waxing moon, a two-week period that is auspicious for magic related to new beginnings, growth and achievement. Diana is invoked as nurturer and protector. At the full moon, she turns her power over to Selene. As an archetype, Diana serves as a role model for feminist Witchcraft, called the Dianic tradition. She is a free spirit, an achiever, who knows what she wants and scores the mark with a single arrow shot. She is neither dependent upon nor subjugated by men. Though a lunar goddess, she walks the earth, and her domain is the wild; she is one with nature.1 Smite Lore Armed with a magical bow, Artemis is the unrivalled Goddess of the Hunt! Daughter of Zeus and Leto, Artemis and her twin brother Apollo are products of Zeus' infidelity to his wife Hera. Insulted, Hera cursed Leto while she was pregnant, forbidding her to give birth on land or sea. Fortunately, she found an island that did not touch the ocean floor, so it was neither land nor sea, and thus bore her children. Artemis was born first, then miraculously aided as midwife in the birthing of her brother. Artemis spent her childhood in the hills and forests, training with her bow and hunting beasts. As she grew older and more beautiful, she also grew proud and ruthless when slighted or dishonoured, especially against those that claimed to be better hunters than she. Adonis boasted this very thing and Artemis sent a wild boar to skewer him. The twin demigods Otos and Ephialtes, who could not be killed except by each other, threatened to kidnap Artemis and force her to marry one of them, but were tricked when Artemis, appearing as a doe, dashed between them. As they thrust with their spears they impaled each other. Finally, Actaeon, after peeping at Artemis while she bathed, was transformed into a stag and devoured by his own hunting dogs. Such is the wrath of Artemis. Her name is invoked by hunters seeking prey and by midwives during childbirth. Sacrifices are made in her name before a new military campaign. Adolescent girls are sent to her shrine to serve for one year. Beautiful, deadly, and chaste, Artemis is a focused woman and a fearsome warrior. Fate Lore Artemis was summoned while having Orion as an accessory. Correction, it's the opposite. Upon summoning Orion, a hero of Greek Mythology, for some reason the goddess Artemis also came along. To make matters worse, Orion completely changed into a strange creature (mascot character) that cannot be defined as either a person nor a beast. Height/Weight: 165cm ・ 44kg Source: Greek Mythology Region: Greece The height and weight belong to Artemis. Famous as a winter representative constellation, but other than being a notorious hunter and lady-killer, it is not like a brilliant heroic tale about Orion is being transmitted. However, he is well known as the human for whom the virgin goddess Artemis fell in love with. Harbouring uneasiness towards the abnormality of the present situation, Artemis trespassed by wedging herself into Orion's summoning. She is fulfilling the role of an Archer. Since her divinity has dropped to the limit, she has a power that is slightly stronger than your average Servant. Orion is dumbfounded towards Artemis' passionate approach, and if there is a chance, he will make an attack on various women and female Servants, but sadly he is just a mascot character after all, so it is all futile. Furthermore, there is also the fact he is not cute enough to be called a mascot. Moon Goddess's Arrows of Love and Romance Rank: A+ Type: Anti-Unit An arrow fired with Artemis' power of love towards Orion. Because it is shot together with exuberant love, it exerts tremendous damage and maximum confusion on the target. Appearances in Modern Media T Artemis Default Card.png|in Smite Orion FGO.jpg|in Fate Information Source Pagan Green